In my experience, filtering for Auctions ending soonest is vital. Over the years, this methodical approach helped me secure my current setup for much less than the typical retail price.

Just saw this thread and it reminds me of when I was hunting for a console for my cousin. I had a really strict budget too and kept getting burned by shipping costs. One thing I learned was to always filter by Buy It Now and then check the Accepts Offers box. It sounds simple but you can usually talk a seller down a bit if the item has been sitting for a while. I was pretty cautious about quality tho... spent way too much time staring at photos of the controller ports to make sure they werent dusty or broken. I eventually snagged mine by setting up this price drop alert tool so I didnt have to refresh the page every five minutes. It definitely takes some patience but youll get there if you just stay consistent and dont rush into a listing that looks too good to be true.

I always check Sold Items to see the real market price first. Honestly, I just use PriceDropCatch to find the mispriced ones before anyone else.